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Given HTC's roller coaster ride in the past few years, it's no secret that Peter Chou had always been more of a product guy than a manager. Well, the time has finally come for him to give up his CEO role. Shortly after the One M9 launch, the Taiwanese phone maker has just announced that Chou will now be the Head of HTC Future Development Lab, as chairwoman and co-founder Cher Wang takes over his CEO position. This news comes as no surprise, given that Wang's been getting more involved in her company's daily operation since two years ago. Little is known about Chou's new division, other than HTC's statement saying he "will be instrumental in identifying future growth opportunities for the Company." If that means we can expect more cool gadgets like the RE Vive and RE Camera, then we say go for it, Chou! But please, no more of that Robert Downey Jr. weirdness.

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breaking newsceocher wangcherwanghtcmobilepostcrosspeter choupeterchouFri, 20 Mar 2015 03:12:00 -040021|21155617http://www.joystiq.com/2014/12/10/the-witcher-3-dev-the-market-is-afraid-of-badly-polished-games/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Joystiq&ncid=rss_semi
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When CD Projekt RED delayed The Witcher 3: Wild Huntto May 19, 2015 earlier this week, the developer said it saw "many details that need to be corrected" in the game before it was ready to launch. The group's President and Joint CEO Adam Kicinski added to that statement, telling Polish financial journalists (as translated by Eurogamer) that the studio's fans "took our decision very well. [The] market is afraid of badly polished games on next-gen platforms."

While Kicinski did not name any games or developers in particular, games such as Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed: Unity, Sony's DriveClub and Microsoft's Halo: The Master Chief Collection encountered varying, severe issues at their respective launches on PS4 and Xbox One this year. The CD Projekt head also said the developer wants "to disarm the opinion that [The Witcher 3] doesn't exist. It will be closed by the end of the year in line with the schedule." Kicinski said there are "a lot of small errors" in the game, which are "the only reason behind the delay," and that the company doesn't want to "release the game with bugs that undermine the gameplay." CD Projekt admitted it "set the release date too hastily" when it aimed for February 2015, which itself was a delay from The Witcher 3's previous 2014 launch window.

Eurogamer
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adam-kicinskiCD-Projektcd-projekt-redceodelaydelayeddelaysmicrosoftpcplaystationpresidentps4the-witcher-3the-witcher-3-wild-huntWarner-Bros-Interactive-Entertainmentwbiexbox-oneWed, 10 Dec 2014 19:30:00 -050011|21114416http://www.joystiq.com/2014/10/22/former-ea-ceo-john-riccitiello-is-now-ceo-of-unity/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Joystiq&ncid=rss_semi
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Unity Co-Founder and CEO David Helgason has stepped down and appointed former EA CEO John Riccitiello as CEO of Unity Technologies. Helgason is now Executive Vice President in charge of strategy and communications.

"Unity has been a hugely positive force in the games industry for years," Riccitiello says in a press release. "Now it's my incredible fortune to have the opportunity to help guide Unity going forward. Unity is more than a great engine or packages of services, it's an amazing and diverse community of developers, many of which are changing the way we think about game design and production. Unity's mission - to democratize development - is an important one that I'm very happy to help drive forward."

Riccitiello resigned his position at EA in March 2013, in the midst of SimCity's online issues and shortly after Star Wars: The Old Republicswitched to free-to-play. His departure letter noted that the company's financial performance was tracking below expectations. Riccitiello has served on the Unity Board of Directors since November 2013.

It feels like just yesterday that AMD brought in Rory Read to turn around its ailing fortunes, but today there's another changing of the guard. The chip designer has announced that chief operating officer Lisa Su is its new CEO, effective immediately; Read will stick around as an advisor until the end of the year. The company isn't going into detail about the reasons behind the shift, but it does say that Read has been planning a succession with the board of directors. It's an "ideal time" for Su to take the reins, the board's Bruce Clafin says.

Usually the only time we talk about Oracle is in relation to its battle with Google over Java and the use of related APIs in Android, but not today. At the age of 70, co-founder Larry Ellison is stepping down from the post of CEO and moving to a new post as Executive Chairman of the Board and CTO. Taking over the reins of the enterprise software company is the duo of Safra Catz and Mark Hurd. You'll recall Hurd as the former CEO of HP, who resigned from that company over a sexual harassment investigation and false expense reports, and then became the target of an (eventually resolved) lawsuit when he joined Oracle four years ago. His awkward exit resulted in collateral damage to HP acquisition Palm, and by extension webOS. The trio of Ellison, former CFO Catz and Hurd will share responsibilities going forward, with Ellison stating in the press release that the only difference is "Safra and Mark will now report to the Oracle Board rather than to me."

Bre Pettis has done more than most to bring 3D printing to the masses. But when MakerBot was bought up by industrial giant Stratasys it became clear that things were about to change. One of the first big changes is coming soon as Pettis, a founder of the consumer 3D print shop, is leaving his post as CEO to join his new parent company Stratasys. He won't be involved in the day to day running of MakerBot any more, but he'll still be instrumental in guiding its future. He'll just now have a part in directing the vision of Stratasys as well. In a statement CEO David Reis said, "We are excited about these promotions and pleased to continue the positive momentum that Stratasys and MakerBot have experienced and achieved." Of course that tells us nothing about how the two companies will continue to evolve or if they'll ever merge under one banner.

After establishing the effectiveness of poultry as winged demolition teams, Angry Birds series creator Rovio Entertainment has announced its CEO, Mikael Hed, will leave his perch on January 1, 2015. Former Senior Vice President of Nokia Pekka Rantala will fill Hed's position, but until the switch is official, Rantala will work closely with Hed to prevent everything from toppling over like a blocky, pig-filled tower.

Though Hed is leaving Rovio's top roost, he has been appointed as Chairman of Rovio Animation Studios and been nominated for a Board of Directors position by Kaj Hed. Rovio's CEO swap is part of what it describes as a "foundation-building year," which follows a steep drop in profits in 2013.

Today Mikael Hed announced he would be stepping down as CEO of Rovio and that former Nokia exec Pekka Rantala would be taking his place in 2015. The developer has quickly gone from being a company that no one had ever heard of to one of the biggest names in mobile gaming. How? Almost entirely on the strength of its flagship franchise: Angry Birds. The problem is, nearly five years on, the Angry Birds name just isn't enough any more. The developer continues to churn out new titles at a fairly regular clip, but many are simple rehashes of the standard formula it debuted in 2009 (see Angry Birds Star Wars, Transformers, Rio, Space, Friendsand Seasons). And with profits dropping off at an alarming rate the company is at something of a crossroads. In 2013 the company made less than half of what it raked in during 2012. If the company wants to avoid the fate of Zynga, which quickly fell apart after going public, it needs to change now before its problems become unfixable. Whether or not Rantala, who most recently was CEO at Finnish beverage company Hartwall, can save Rovio from the dustbin of history remains to be seen. But one thing is for sure, if he can stop just one more licensed Angry Birds game from being made, the world will be a better place.

He was Microsoft's 30th employee, its first business manager and CEO for over a decade. Now, after 34 years with the company, Steve Ballmer is leaving Microsoft behind. In a letter to Satya Nadella, Microsoft's new CEO, Ballmer explained that he's leaving the company's board of directors effective immediately. "I have become very busy," he explains. "I see a combination of Clippers, civic contribution, teaching and study taking up a lot of time." It's not a surprising development -- owning an NBA franchise is a pretty big responsibility, after all -- but it marks the end of Ballmer's decades-long influence over the company. Despite his departure, the former-CEO is still invested in the company's success, and spent most of the letter encouraging Nadella and giving advice.

Xiaomi's regular channeling of Apple -- from its stage presentations all the way to disguisingAperture's icon as a phone's camera -- has earned its CEO Lei Jun the "Steve Jobs of China" nickname. Or rather, "Lei Bu Si," a Chinese combination of "Lei" and "Jobs." It's also a double entendre -- something along the lines of "endless shocks" -- that mocks Xiaomi's aggressive marketing. It's no wonder Lei hates the comparison. Fortunately for Lei there's another Chinese CEO gunning for that title. Meet Luo Yonghao, an English teacher turned founder and CEO of smartphone startup, Smartisan, with designs on being the next great tech visionary.

There were murmurs that Sprint was about to shake up its leadership, and today it's official. The carrier has named Marcelo Claure, the head of wireless distributor Brightstar, as its new President and CEO. He'll take over from Dan Hesse on August 11th. The company doesn't have a direct explanation for the change, but it does allude to refocusing now that its attempt to buy T-Mobile has gone awry; while it would prefer "industry consolidation," it's only concerned with self-improvement in the short term. How Claure will fare isn't certain. He's known for his entrepreneurial skills and has been involved with Sprint's board for months, but this will be his first time running a provider. He'll have to get up to speed quickly if he wants to reverse the company's ailing fortunes.

Welcome to the happy Google search page. Where links to historical articles can be deleted at the request of cowards people with fragile reputations. Where the former boss of Merrill Lynch, Stan O'Neal, is a fresh, dynamic and highly employable banker, rather than a disgraced executive who contributed to the sub-prime lending crisis of 2007. Where truth-telling journalists like Robert Peston wake up to find that their articles have been cast into oblivion within the EU, thanks to a blanket ruling by a bunch of clueless lawyers the European Court of Justice. Where facts and opinions no longer count for anything if someone, somewhere doesn't like them.

(A list of other Google search terms that have so far been affected by the new "right to be forgotten" can be found here -- although in none of the cases do we have any information about who objected to them, or why.)

Update: Reuters and The Guardian are reporting that some links have been restored (not the one to the story about Stan O'Neal), although, as Danny Sullivan points out on Twitter, they may not have been pulled at all. The European Commission has also distanced itself from Google's takedown action, saying that the EU's ruling shouldn't allow people to "photoshop their lives."

If you pre-ordered Razer's new 14-inch Blade laptop the day it was announced, there's a good chance you still don't have it. Frustrated? Don't worry -- your voice has already been heard; Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan says he's sorry. "We suck at this," he said in a heartfelt Facebook post today. "I suck at this." Unfortunately, Razer has made a habit of underestimating customer demand, and Min's team is struggling to find a solution that won't keep customers waiting. "We've tried different things," he said. "We've tried doubling / tripling / quadrupling manufacturing capacity, we've ramped back to phasing in launches by geography... we've pushed back launch dates, and still we end up disappointing our customers."

We've got a feeling that Mark Zuckerberg will, regretfully, be unable to accept this particular foreign invitation -- especially after all the recent name-calling that's been coming out of Iran. Nevertheless, a court in the south of that country has reportedly ordered the Facebook CEO to attend a hearing to answer complaints over privacy, specifically regarding Instagram and WhatsApp. There have been calls for both services to be blocked in Tehran, but they're still operational for now, perhaps partly due to a degree of protection from more moderate forces within the country. The precise details of the court summons are hard to be sure of, because news of it comes not from the court itself, but from an official within the Basij militia -- a voluntary paramilitary force that is regularly called upon to protect Iran's theocracy from dissent. And frankly, that's exactly the sort of geo-political context that might further dissuade Zuckerberg's PA from scheduling an appointment.

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ceoextraditionfacebookinstagramiranmark zuckerbergprivacysummonswhatsappTue, 27 May 2014 09:02:00 -040021|20893124http://www.joystiq.com/2014/04/19/former-lucasarts-president-now-ceo-at-dungeon-defenders-dev/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Joystiq&ncid=rss_semi
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Darrell Rodriguez, who served as president of LucasArts between 2008 and 2010, will now lead Dungeon Defendersdeveloper Trendy Entertainment as its CEO, the studio has announced. Rodriguez, who most recently served as Chief Creative Officer at casino game creator International Game Technology, said in a press release that he was drawn to the studio due to it being "among the first companies to recognize that digitally distributed releases deserve the same high-quality treatment as traditional retail titles."

"AAA doesn't belong to AAA anymore, and finding fellow video game industry veterans who understand this is an exciting proposition," Rodriguez said.

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ceodarrell-rodriguezdungeon-defendersdungeon-defenders-2lucasartstrendytrendy-entertainmentSat, 19 Apr 2014 14:30:00 -040011|20872186http://www.joystiq.com/2014/03/31/chad-gutstein-steps-into-ceo-role-at-machinima/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Joystiq&ncid=rss_semi
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Gamer-focused streaming video network Machinima has hired Chad Gutstein to lead the company as its new CEO.

"Machinima is ready for the next level, and Chad has all of the unique qualities we were seeking in a new CEO to bring us there," said Machinima co-founder Allen DeBevoise. "His fresh and respected outlook, deep knowledge of the TV and digital business, and proven track record will all benefit Machinima as we enter our next phase of growth." DeBevoise cites Gutstein's work as COO of Ovation, an online network aimed at the arts, where Gutstein had great success in driving home the value of online streaming content to advertisers more familiar with traditional video broadcasting.

"Machinima is a pioneer in the online video space and virtually invented the MCN business model," Gutstein said of his new employer. "We plan to profitably grow our business with engaging original programming, nurturing the best affiliate channel partner program, and creating innovative solutions to help marketers reach our young, male and highly mobile audience."

Allen DeBevoise previously served as Machinima's CEO. He voluntarily vacated the position last November amid the company's mounting financial woes in the hopes that Machinima could attract more "professional management."

Last week Mozilla appointed former CTO Brendan Eich as its new CEO, but the response to that move has centered on something other than its focus on mobile. In 2008 Eich donated $1,000 to support Proposition 8, a ban on gay marriage in California, and as a result a number of employees have called for him to step down. Today that protest extended to other websites, as The Verge points out Firefox users visiting the dating site OkCupid are greeted with the page shown above, saying it would "prefer that our users not use Mozilla software to access OkCupid." At the bottom it includes links to Google Chrome, Internet Exploder (natch), Opera and Safari as friendlier alternatives, above a link for users to bypass the page and continue browsing with Firefox.

Since Eich's appointment, Mozilla has posted severalstatements about its support for diversity, inclusiveness and marriage equality for LGBT couples, including one penned by the CEO himself. Three board members have also resigned from the foundation, although it says that's not related to the CEO choice. Mozilla says that OkCupid never reached out to it to "confirm facts" (the full statement from a spokesperson is included below) but so far is sticking to its previous responses -- we'll see if Eich's request for "the time to "show, not tell" is granted.

Update (4/2): CNET mentions that OkCupid has removed the notice, and the company says it plans to issue a statement "in the next few days."

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BrendanEichceoequalityfirefoxgay marriagemarriagemozillaproposition 8Mon, 31 Mar 2014 19:04:00 -040021|20860398http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/18/microsoft-is-announcing-an-intersection-of-cloud-and-mobile-com/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
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How does Satya Nadella run a Microsoft press event? We're about to find out: the company's new CEO will is coming to San Francisco later this month to talk about "news focused on the intersection of cloud and mobile computing." The topic certainly plays to his strengths. Before taking the helm as the company's new chief executive, Nadella played a major role in launching Office 365, Microsoft's subscription and cloud-based Office platform. While that application is already accessible from mobile devices, native Android and iOS Office apps have reportedly been on Microsoft's roadmap for some time too, and we wouldn't be surprised if they surfaced at this event. Microsoft won't speak further on the specifics of the event, but we won't have to wait long -- Nadella takes the stage on March 27th.

Whatever you think of Apple's products, there's no denying that Tim Cook has played a large role in making them profitable, first as an operations executive and later in running the company. But just what kind of a leader is he? Thanks to an excerpt from Yukari Iwatani Kane's upcoming book Haunted Empire, we have a clearer picture of what makes Cook tick. He's both very meticulous and a motivator, according to Kane. While he's known for holding six-hour review meetings and chewing people out for minor slip-ups, he also inspires hard work and encourages a charitable, friendly atmosphere at 1 Infinite Loop. He's also characterized as relentless -- the sort who'd go straight to the office after a red-eye flight. The excerpt likely won't change your mind on Cook's strategy, but it's worth a read if you want to know what drives one of the technology industry's most distinctive CEOs.

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appleceotimcookSun, 02 Mar 2014 08:01:00 -050021|20841032http://www.joystiq.com/2014/02/21/kongregate-ceo-to-step-down/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Joystiq&ncid=rss_semi
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Jim Greer is stepping down as Kongregate's CEO, he announced in a forum post on the indie game portal's website. His sister Emily Greer will become the site's CEO, and Jim will stay with the site "half time" while also launching a non-profit political action group, according to Gamasutra. The change will go into effect on February 28.

Kongregate is host to thousands of games, both downloadable and browser-based, and also has its own in-house game development team. The gaming portal was acquired by GameStop in July 2010. GameStop established a $10 million mobile game fund for Kongregate earlier this month.

Not that we had serious doubts about the Wall Street Journal's report, but it's nice to get confirmation of Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside's departure. Less than two years after taking over the position from Sanjay Jha, who ran the company before the Google acquisition, Woodside is stepping down to become the first COO of Dropbox. The move comes just weeks after the announcement that Lenovo would be taking Moto off of Google's hands. It also raises questions about the future direction of the brand which shifted its focus towards affordability and customization over the last year, even if Woodside assures that Motorola management "remains focused on our current strategy." Obviously there is still work to be done during the transition from one owner to another, so Jonathan Rosenberg who has been Senior Vice President of Product will be stepping in as COO of Motorola to work with the rest of the leadership team.

As Chinese phone maker Meizu approaches its eleventh anniversary come March 14th, its notoriously reclusive founder Jack Wong made a surprise return -- in front of cameras, no less -- to his company's Zhuhai headquarters this weekend as CEO. Wong, who is now 40 years old, has apparently avoided setting foot in his office for years -- he even used to leave home just once a month to get his haircut, and he only held meetings with just a handful of key employees, according to our sources. During yesterday's recorded Q&A session, the slightly brash yet charismatic exec confirmed this odd little fact, blaming a series of events several years ago that led to exhaustion. But now he's ready to go full time again, instead of just occasionally posting on his company's online forum and designing prototypes at home.

"I plan to lead everyone, lead Meizu, lead the whole team to make a new start, to a more extraordinary, more prosperous 10 years," Wong said in front of his employees.

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ceochinajackwongjwongmeizumobilepostcrossphonevideoSun, 09 Feb 2014 16:03:00 -050021|20826249http://www.joystiq.com/2014/02/05/second-life-developer-linden-lab-picks-new-ceo-ebbe-altberg/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Joystiq&ncid=rss_semi
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Linden Lab announced Ebbe Altberg as its new CEO today. He joins the company following former CEO Rod Humble's departure late last week. Altberg was previously COO of professional networking company BranchOut and SVP of Media Products for Yahoo.

Linden Lab is best known for developing Second Life, a Sims-like online virtual world for PC, Mac and Linux that first launched in June 2003. It also acquired the indie-focused game distribution platform Desura in July 2013.

Steve Ballmer couldn't change Microsoft fast enough. During his 13-year stint as CEO, the company failed to get in front of major technological developments. It struggled to keep pace with the likes of Apple and Google in mobile and search and saw lackluster adoption of its first round of tablets. Ballmer created a sluggish corporate culture that pitted employees against each other, and he wasn't moving fast enough to right his wrongs. It was time for him to move on.

On August 23rd, 2013, the 34-year Microsoft veteran announced that he would retire within the year. The company's board set out on a highly publicized five-month journey to find its next leader. Ballmer's Harvard classmate and Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, would join the committee to find a replacement who could follow through on its mission to become a devices and services business in an increasingly fast-paced industry. Over the next five months, the board of directors, led by John Thompson, would narrow its pool of more than 100 candidates to just a few. As time wore on, speculation escalated and outsiders like former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and Ford CEO Alan Mulally emerged as frontrunners in the glacial race. Meanwhile, rumors pegged internal candidates like former Skype CEO Tony Bates and EVP of Cloud and Enterprise Satya Nadella as possible contenders.

All of that speculation came to an end today when the board appointed Nadella as the third CEO in the company's near 40-year history. Like Ballmer before him, Nadella is a company man, with more than two decades at Microsoft. He understands how the Microsoft of old works and has managed to lead its cloud and enterprise services to great success, but questions remain about his ability to lead the company into the future.

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ceomicrosoftMicrosoft CEOnadellasatya nadellaTue, 04 Feb 2014 09:30:00 -050021|20821491http://www.joystiq.com/2014/02/04/microsofts-next-ceo-is-satya-nadella/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Joystiq&ncid=rss_semi
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Microsoft announced Satya Nadella as its new CEO this morning. Nadella joined Microsoft in 1992, and is now upgrading from his previously held position as Executive Vice President of the company's Cloud and Enterprise group. The new CEO is credited with bringing Microsoft's various services to the cloud.

Additionally, founder Bill Gates will take a new role on the Board of Directors as Founder and Technology Advisor, "supporting Nadella in shaping technology and product direction." In his stead, John Thompson will take the role of Chairman with the Board.

The company's previous longtime CEO, Steve Ballmer, announced that he would retire "within a year" back in August 2013. Prior to the announcement, Ballmer named Julie Larson-Green the head of the Devices and Studios Engineering Group, the division created in the company's organizational shift to include the Xbox brand in it.